In the art of building construction, cove molding is often used to decorate, protect, and give a finished appearance along the bottom of walls and exposed surfaces. One of the major problems with the use of vinyl or rubber cove molding is its inability to follow sharp bends or curves in the walls. Often, the vinyl or rubber molding will pull away from its adhesive around sharp corners. This necessitates constant regluing.
It is known to place a score line on the back surface of the molding in order to provide a means by which the molding will conform to a sharp bend in a wall. The difficulty with making a scoring line in soft material, such as rubber or vinyl, is that quite often the knife blade sinks, or is driven too far into the material. The cove molding will then be too weak to be applied about the corner without physically ripping or showing the line where the cut took place. On the other hand, if the score line is not made deep enough, the material will not appreciably conform to a bend. Applying a score line by hand often produces a score line that is uneven, i.e., it is too deep in some spots and not deep enough in other spots along the line axis.
The present invention provides an apparatus for making a uniform score line in cove molding that is precisely at the proper depth to effect a sharp bend.
The current invention comprises an apparatus that houses a router for scoring vinyl or rubber cove molding. The router is supported upon a base that is movable within an internal slot disposed in two spaced apart longitudinal beams. Two transversely placed beams hold the spaced apart beams together at their distal ends, thus forming a frame. Two spaced apart blocks are juxtaposed at one end of the frame. The two spaced apart blocks support a shaft that runs through the longitudinal beams at one of their distal ends.
The frame is pivotal about the shaft. The router, which is supported upon the longitudinal beams, is pivotally lowered into engagement with a piece of cove molding. There are index marks on the plate for lining up the work. The router produces a score line in the cove molding by moving the router longitudinally within the internal slot of the longitudinal beams. The height of the router above the surface of the cove molding is adjustable by a turn screw that is disposed in a vertical slot in the router sheath. The frame is spring biased about its pivotal end to an inoperative position. Pushing down on the frame, the molding is clamped down to a table, bringing the router into contact with the surface of the cove molding. Drawing the router across the longitudinal beams via said internal slot will produce the required score line.